Friday, December 30, 2011

On July 1, 1933 General Italo Balbo, the air minister of Italy, led a flight of SIAI S-55X's from Orbetello, Italy, to the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, in just over 48 hours. There were 24 S-55X flying boats in General Balbo's flight. They completed the entire flight both over and back in a tight V formation. Even today pilots frequently refer to a large formation of aircraft as a Balbo.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

This is the first version of the Ludewig Aero type Straßenzepp (Road Zeppelin) Essen with 21 seats. Based on an Opel Blitz 3.5 tonnes chassis and powered by a 64 hp engine, it was first bus, teste in the wind tunnel . The development was carried out in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Emil August Everling of the Aerodynamic Research Institute (AVA) in Göttingen.Other features: self-supporting all-aluminum body. The hallways are next to the frame, the seats are mounted on the frame and facing outward. The trunk is moved to the roof, directly over the heads of the passengers. Total height about 2 meters. The vehicles boasted luxury features including a refrigerator for 21 bottles of champagne. Nevertheless, it is the first of the very popular Autobahn-Bus in the 30s.

Monday, December 19, 2011

The prototype of the Piaggio P.32twin-engine bomber flew in early 1936 powered by two Isotta Fraschini Asso XI V-12 engines. Of mixed construction, the P.32 had a stubby fuselage with a low/mid-set wing incorporating Handley-Page leading-edge slats and double trailing-edge flaps, and a tail unit with twin fins and rudders. The V-12 engines were later replaced by 746kW Piaggio P.XI RC.40 radials. Armament comprised a single 7.7mm Breda machine-gun in a nose turret, and twin guns of the same type and calibre in retractable dorsal and ventral turrets.A production series of 16 P.32s with Isotta Fraschini engines went into service with the 47a and 48a Squadriglie B.T. of the Regia Aeronautica during 1937, only to be withdrawn and scrapped the following year after a crash which indicated irremediable control problems. Twelve radial-engined aircraft under construction were never completed.

Friday, December 9, 2011

The project was designed with the technical help of Italy, where the machinery for a lead ship was bought (earlier intended for Eugenio di Savoia light cruiser). The ultimate variant of project 26 was approved on Dec. 29, 1934 and under it two ships, Kirov for Baltic Fleet and Voroshilov for Black Sea Fleet were laid down.Protection of cruisers of project 26 included 50mm belt with 121m length and 3.4m height, covered by 50mm transverse bulkheads. 50mm main deck was connected with its upper edge. Turrets and barbettes from all directions were protected by 50mm plates, the conning tower had 150mm sides and 100mm roof. Steering gear compartment was covered by 20mm armour.Turrets were Italian-designed, placing all main guns in the common gun slide. Original armament consisted of 3 x 3 - 180mm, 6 x 1 - 100mm, 6 x 1 - 45mm guns, 4 x 1 - 12.7 MGs, 2 x 3 - 533 TT, 1 K-12 catapult, 2 KOR-1 seaplanes, 100 mines.Kirov was commissioned into the Baltic Fleet in the autumn of 1938, but was still being worked on into early 1939. She sailed to Riga on 22 October when the Soviet Union began to occupy Latvia, continuing on to Liepāja the following day. During the Winter War, Kirov, escorted by the destroyers Smetlivyi and Stremitel'nyi, attempted to bombard Finnish coast defense guns at Russarö, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of Hanko on 30 November. She only fired 35 rounds before she was damaged by a number of near misses and had to return to the Soviet naval base at Liepāja for repairs. She remained there for the rest of the Winter War and afterwards was under repair at Kronstadt from October 1940 to 21 May 1941.Based near Riga at the time of the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Kirov was trapped in the Gulf of Riga by the rapid enemy advance. She supported minelaying sorties by Soviet destroyers in the western half of the Irben Strait on the evenings of 24–25 and 26–27 June. Off-loading her fuel and ammunition to reduce her draft, she passed through the shallow Moon Sound Channel (between Muhu island and the Estonian mainland) with great difficulty, and managed to reach Tallinn by the end of June. Kirov provided gunfire support during the defense of Tallinn and served as the flagship of the evacuation fleet from Tallinn to Leningrad at the end of August 1941. For most of the rest of the war she was blockaded in Leningrad and Kronstadt by Axis minefields and could only provide gunfire support for the defenders during the Siege of Leningrad. She was damaged by a number of German air and artillery attacks, most seriously on 4–5 April 1942 when she was hit by three bombs and one 15-centimeter (5.9 in) shell that damaged all six 100 mm AA guns, the aft funnel, the mainmast, and killed 86 sailors and wounded 46. Repairs took two months during which her catapult was removed; a lighter pole mainmast was fitted and her anti-aircraft armament increased. After Leningrad was de-blocked in early 1944, Kirov remained there, and took no further part in the war except to provide gunfire support for the Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive in mid–1944.Kirov was damaged by a German magnetic mine while leaving Kronstadt on 17 October 1945 and was under repair until 20 December 1946. She was refitted from November 1949 to April 1953, during which her machinery was completely overhauled and her radars, fire control systems and anti-aircraft guns were replaced by the latest Soviet systems. She participated in fleet maneuvers in the North Sea during January 1956.She was reclassified as a training cruiser, regularly visiting Poland and East Germany, on 2 August 1961 and sold for scrap on 22 February 1974. When Kirov was decommissioned, two gun turrets were installed in Saint Petersburg as a monument.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

An inscription on the pediment of the pavilion closer to the opening of the first railroad - in 1835, the first public demonstrations of television in 1935.The film (in Alberteum), radio-broadcast (the Pavilion of the INR), television, synthesis of these two marvels of modern times, were therefore equally represented in the Exhibition.The experiments took place in Brussels, before Paris, using apparatus of "Société des Compteurs de Montrouge" (Corporation Counters), patent "Barthélémy", similar appliances those adopted by the P.T.T. minister (Postmaster) equipment for state positions.Inside the pavilion, the viewfinder was faced with a small screen on which appeared the artist - a singer or musician - who was in the nearby studio: the image was reduced and tinted green. The artist had to smear the face of a special make-up and unflattering, but the image was true and perfectly recognizable. The sound, on the other hand, was not changed the transmission, a shortwave station was installed to do this, inside the Pavilion, by technicians of Radio Schaerbeek.The principle was: the scene takes place in a glass cage, under fire from eight powerful "spotlights". In a camera, behind a goal similar to that of the camera shooting, an aluminum disk with holes punched in a spiral, spinning at 1,500 revolutions. He strained the light ray and each hit a photodetector, the latter in turn, sent rays at the transmitter, which sent them in waves.A receiver welcomed them and passed them (for 60 lines, 25 frames, 90,000 "pulses" per second) to a special screen, consisting of a glass coated balloon, at its upper end with a fluorescent substance . The contact with the substance of electrons allowed to reconstruct the image by successive bright spots. The transmitted and presented to the public was about 20 centimeters square ten yards separated the screen artists "televisioned".If the method in its early days yet called improvements, it nevertheless displays the solution to a problem passionately discussed. And the success of the Palace of the TV was very lively. It just did not attract the attention of crowds. Among other visits, he received those of King Leopold III of Ministers Devèze Van Isacker, Destree; MM. Adolphe Max, Van de Meulebroeck, Count Adrian van der Burch, Caspers, Charles Fonck, M. Laroche, Ambassador of France and members of many scientific associations and others.

Friday, December 2, 2011

King George V-Class Battleship ordered from Cammell Laird at Birkenhead under the 1937 Build Programme on 29th July 1936. She was laid down on 1st January 1937 and launched on 3rd May 1939 as the 12th RN ship to carry this name. Completed on 31st March 1941 and had been delayed by damage to the build shipyard during air raids on Merseyside.She was heavily involved in the first contact with the German battleship Bismarck and the cruiser Prinz Eugen, and landed a critical hit on Bismarck, causing her to make the ill fated decision to return to port. Prince of Wales suffered heavy damage during the engagement and had to return to Rosyth to be repaired. She transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the Newfoundland Conference with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

On 25 October 1941 Prince of Wales departed for Singapore to join Force Z, a British naval detachment. She docked there on 2 December with the rest of the force, and on 2:11 on 10 December Force Z was dispatched to investigate reports of Japanese landing forces at Kuantan. On arriving there they found the reports to be false. At 11:00 that morning Japanese bombers and torpedo aircraft began their assault on Force Z. In a second attack at 11:30 torpedoes struck Prince of Wales on the port side, wrecking the outer propeller shaft and causing the ship to take on a heavy list. A third torpedo attack developed against Repulse but she managed to avoid all torpedoes aimed at her. A fourth attack by torpedo-carrying Type 1 "Bettys" sank Repulse at 12:33. Six aircraft from this wave attacked Prince of Wales, with four of their torpedoes hitting the ship, causing flooding. Finally a 500 kg bomb hit the catapult deck, penetrated through to the main deck and exploded, tearing a gash in the port side of the hull. At 13:15 the order was given to abandon ship and at 13:20 Prince of Wales sank; Vice-Admiral Tom Phillips and Captain John Leach were among the 327 fatalities.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Construction of Broadcasting House began in 1932, and the building opened to the BBC's offices and radio operations on 14 May 1934, eight years after the corporation's establishment. George Val Myer designed the building in collaboration with the BBC's civil engineer, M T Tudsbery. The original interiors were the work of Raymond McGrath, an Australian-Irish architect. He directed a team which included Serge Chermayeff and Wells Coates and designed the vaudeville studio, the associated green and dressing rooms, and the dance and chamber music studios in a flowing Art Deco style. It was later said of his efforts that "the designs for the BBC gave the first real fillip to industrial design in England. " (Wikipedia)